Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Rockets game notes vs. T-Birds

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets face-off against the Seattle Thunderbirds for the fourth and final time this season. The Rockets are 2-1-0-0, having out-scored the Birds 10-8 in the seasonal series.The Rockets enter tonight’s game riding a five game winning streak and have won nine of their last ten games. Over that period the Rockets have out-scored their opponent 31-15. Following tonight’s game the Rockets close out the regular season with a home and home series with the Vancouver Giants. The Rockets are in Vancouver Friday night before hosting the Giants Saturday.

Rockets recent game: Zach Franko scored with eight seconds left in overtime lifting the Rockets to a 3-2 win Sunday night over the Chilliwack Bruins. Mitchell Chapman and Cody Chikie scored in regulation time as the Rockets won for the 42nd time this season.Jordon Cooke earned the win in goal making 27 saves. The Rockets were 0 for 4 on the power play while the Bruins were 2 for 6.

Who’s Hot: Colton Sissons has 15 points (5+10=15) in his last eleven games….Geordie Wudrick has goals in six of his last nine games….Tyson Barrie has points in seven of his last eleven …Evan Bloodoff has eleven points (6+5=11) in his last fourteen games…Shane McColgan has seven assists in his last seven games...Mitchell Callahan has 3+2=5 in his last seven games…Zach Franko has three goals in his last five games…The Rockets defensive core combined is a +18 in their last ten games.

This and That: Adam Brown is the Canadian Hockey League Goaltender of the Week.Brown earned three straight wins including a 1-0 shutout win Saturday, over the Kamloops Blazers….The Rockets have scored ten more goals than they did all of last season…Last season the team scored 224 times….The Rockets have 21 road wins this season. Last year the team won just 15 times on opposition ice…..The Rockets have 42 wins this season. Last season they had 35 victories…The Rockets have 21 home ice wins this season. Last year they had 20 home victories….The Rockets have 85 points this season. Last season the team had nine fewer points at season’s end (76)…..Adam Brown has 84 career wins, which is a new franchise record for wins by a goaltender in a career. Brown passed Kelly Guard for the new mark on Friday against Kamloops ….The Rockets are 25 and 4 when Geordie Wudrick scores…. The Rockets have just 3 games left in the regular season…Since the start of November the Rockets have lost just sixteen times in regulation during their last 55 games (38-16-0-1). The Rockets lost ten times in their first 14 games to start the season….Jason Siebert is missing his 45th straight game after undergoing surgery on his wrist….The Rockets have allowed the second fewest goals against on the road in the WHL this season (92)…. The Rockets have scored 40 more goals at home than on the road. The Rockets have played 34 games at home and 35 times on opposition ice…The Rockets have been involved in twenty-six (26) one goal games this season. The Rockets are 18-7-0-1 in those twenty-six (26) one goal games…Adam Brown has started forty-nine of the last 58 games…The Rockets franchise played in its 1400th regular season game December 14th in Medicine Hat. The team has 740 regular season wins….The Rockets were 8 and 10 in 18 games this season without Tyson Barrie in the lineup. Barrie missed seven games at the start of the season with a hip injury and eleven games as a member of Team Canada….Only four players have played in all 69 regular season games this season. They are Zach Franko, Kevin Smith, Evan Bloodoff and Spencer Main…The Rockets are 23-11-0-1 in thirty-five games since returning from the Christmas break…The Rockets have scored 6 or more goals on home ice eleven (11) times this season…Geordie Wudrick (3) and Colton Sissons (1) have hat tricks this season.…The Rockets have received the most power play chances of any team in the WHL this season (371)….Geordie Wudrick is 5 for 5 in the shootout this season….Brett Bulmer returns the lineup tonight after missing 14 games with a knee injury….The Rockets are 5 and 1 in the shootout. ..Geordie Wudrick is playing in his 347th WHL game tonight against the T-Birds. That ties him for 10th on the WHL all-time list for games played. The league leader is Glen Goodall, who played 399 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 1984-90…….Evan Bloodoff has six-multiple goal games this season. Geordie Wudrick has eight-multiple goal games…Mitchell Callahan played in his 200th career game Saturday night against the Blazers…The Rockets (6-0), Portland (5-0) and Swift Current (5-0) are the only three teams in the WHL this season that have not lost in overtime….The Rockets have allowed the second fewest power play goals against in the WHL (48). Only Spokane is better (39)…Zak Stebner plays in his 275th career game tonight.

Which Kelowna Rockets will make Team Canada?

Who will win the BC Division this season?

World Gym Kelowna/West Kelowna

Regan Bartel

Will Cal Foote and Kole Lind be taken in the first round of the NHL draft?

About Me

Bartel is a radio broadcaster for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. Bartel is enjoying his 26th year in the radio broadcast industry, spending 13 years at CKSW in Swift Current before moving to AM 1150 in Kelowna in the summer of 2000. Having called the play-by-play for the Swift Current Broncos and Kelowna Rockets, Bartel has called games at five Memorial Cups (2003,04,05,09, 2015), the CHL Top Prospects Game (2012) and the Canada-Russia Subway Super Series (2009). To listen to audio, just type audio in the window at the top left of the screen.